Political Punch

Minister’s relative

Relatives of ministers become active immediately after the formation of a government. As soon as a minister took the oath of office, one of his relatives became up and about. The relative is meeting the lower-rank officers of the department the minister is heading. The relative of the minister concerned says the purpose of his meeting with the officers is to know the functioning of the department, but a few officers are unhappy about it. These officers have reported the matter to the higher-ups in the government. The department the minister has been handed over gets a lot of funds, and the ministers, who had once headed it, made a lot of cabbage. Ergo the minister’s relative swung into action immediately after the department was allotted to the minister. What is more interesting is that when the departments were not allotted, the relative concerned used to hold talks with the officials of another department. The minister also expected that he would get the department whose officers his relative was talking to. The relative concerned spoke to some engineers of the department to know the rates. But because the minister did not get the department connected to construction, his relative has begun to put pressure on the officials of the department the minister is heading now.

Bhopal ignored!

These days the catch phrase in the corridors of power is that the state capital did not get its due when the portfolios were allotted to ministers. Both the ministers from the state capital have been given the departments which are less important than the ones allotted to others. Both are more efficient and educated than many others in the cabinet and have worked hard in their constituencies. Both have years of experience in handling the administration, besides. Yet, the reasons for giving them insignificant departments are not known to anyone. Because the central leadership has allotted the departments, everyone is scared of saying anything about it. Another decision that has surprised everyone is that the Bhopal Gas Relief Department has been assigned to a minister who has nothing to do with the state capital, which has happened for the first time. Now that the Lok Sabha election is near, changes in the state cabinet may take place after it.

Dreary mood

The state election has seen a long queue of poignant people containing the members of the opposition camp as well as those of the ruling party. It is contrary to the popular axiom – the winner is happy: the loser is sad. But in the present case, the loser as well as the winner is forlorn. The list of such people is long. The Congress was in despair after the election results were out – naturally. Likewise, after the BJP Legislative Party’s meeting, all those aspiring for the post of Chief Minister were disappointed. The command of the state has been assigned to a man who was nowhere in the race for the post. Not only that when the ministry was formed, the claimants for cabinet berths were upset. A few first-time MLAs have been made ministers and a few of them did not get a berth. So, they are feeling blue. Similarly, when the departments were allotted and those who did not get important ones were also in tears. But one thing is clear – they are drawing solace from each other’s grief.

Bolt from the blue

A few Congress leaders have disappeared from the scene after the election outcome as though they had never had anything to do with politics. The leader under whom the Congress has contested the election has gone abroad after the poll results. A photograph of the leader sent from a foreign land indicates that he is in no mood to take any stress. A friend of this leader has also stopped interfering in state politics. This senior leader is reconciled to the fact that he has been sent to the party’s Marg Darshak Mandal. He has indicated to his close aides that he is not keen to interfere in the affairs of the party’s state unit. Another senior leader of the party has also announced that he will not contest any elections. The leader, who has been working behind the curtain, has failed to understand the reasons for the party’s defeat in the election. The way the Congress leaders are behaving shows the defeat has weighed heavy on them. It was like a bolt from the blue.

Lunch time

A minister of an important department received a cuff – though not physically – from a senior member of the party organisation. The Minister's experience was so briny that it was as though he had had his nose bled. The minister went to the house of a senior party leader when the latter was having lunch. Because the senior leader was averse to any kind of disturbance at that time, he informed the minister through his page that he would meet him after finishing his meal. The page conveyed the party leader’s message to the minister accordingly. The minister’s wait continued. So was the leader’s lunch. By the time the leader had finished his meal, the minister was at the end of his tether, waiting for more than 20 minutes. It is not known whether the minister was also hungry, because it was lunchtime, but he was of course angry – though kept away from showing it.

CM’s keyword

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s style of working has spawned fear among the bureaucrats. An error is enough to incur CM’s wrath that leads to the transfer of an officer to an undesirable place; and, for an officer, nothing can be more humiliating than that. He recently shunted two collectors to unasked-for departments for showing negligence in work and for failing to stand up to the people’s expectations. He has so far shifted eight collectors. His decisions have naturally scared the officers who are trying to have a grasp of the CM’s working style through those who have already worked with him when he was heading the Higher Education Department. They have every reason to fall back on a piece of advice from their colleagues. Else they will mutter glassy-eyed about up the creek they are.